Sooo.. some closure...

I never got a chance to write about my last few days in Israel because it was a hectic and incredible rush of an experience, and I really didn't think about the blog. I stayed with the Shiryons until Etan was ready to move into his apartment in Tel Aviv, and I got to experience my first true Shabbat with the whole family. I have NEVER eaten so much food in my entire life, and spending the evening and morning without television or other electronic stimuli was very relaxing. Etan and I rented a car and drove to visit the rest of the family in Kiryat Gat, in the south near the Negev and Gaza. We ate another enormous meal, and had a really great afternoon with the family. Since everyone was speaking Hebrew the whole time, it was definitely a test of my comprehension skills, but as it turns out, I can understand the gist of their conversations pretty well.

Eventually, Etan and I started working on his apartment in Tel Aviv, right off Sheinkin Street and very close to The Carmel Market. We mopped the floors, swept the carpets, cleaned the windows, and scrubbed the bathroom. It's a pretty sweet apartment, but the former tenants didn't take great care of it. We did a few roves through the local streets and picked up some furniture (shelves, cabinets, etc..) that other people were throwing out. We made it look pretty livable just with the trash we collected from the street.

While Etan worked, I got to do a lot of exploring around Tel Aviv, which was really great.

Basically, after a month there, I have a completely new view of Israel. It seems like a 1st and a half world country. Based on Jewish socialist ideals from the European immigrants, but with new capitalist influences, the country seems to still be figuring out how to organize its businesses. They haven't completely figured out capitalism as a nation, but the few individuals who have seem to be quite successful, and the entrepreneurial mindset is growing. The people are incredibly cynical and sarcastic, but have a need and feel for family bonds that far surpasses the average American. They seem to live very tense and frustrating lives, which you notice immediately when you are on the road with or around Israeli drivers, but their compassion and kindness, again, would put the average New Jerseyan to shame. Israelis take every opportunity to enjoy life, as they know far too well how short it can be.

Israel is a land of complete polarity. The country displays strong contrast in every area of life. The landscape varies between a lush, fertile northern half, to a dry, arid southern desert. There is extreme religious fanaticism and a surprisingly secular majority. Ancient, biblical buildings and culture in some parts, while at the same time, a completely modern, cosmopolitan society in others, often thriving together in the same places, and Fear, cynicism, and uncertainty, while at the same time, compassion, love, and an energizing vigor for life.

I've made some great friends and had some wonderful experiences that will stay with me for the rest of my life. Israel has become a part of me.

I love this place. I'm definitely coming back.

Peace Greece.. Now I'm in Israel

So the last couple of days in Greece were a lot of fun. We left the boat and stayed in a hotel on the island of Corfu. I rented a vespa again to ride around the island and my parents rented a Jeep. Corfu is a lot bigger than Paxos where I last rented one of these things, so there was a lot more to explore. I got to see some really amazing parts of the island that I never would have been able to see otherwise. The next day I got to practice driving a stick in the Jeep my parents got. We drove across the island to one of the sand beaches (very rare) and spent most of the day there. The mountains and small roads of Corfu are a really fun place to drive a car like that.

So.. they left the next day and I spent the afternoon being lazy around Corfu Town.. reading and napping in the parks.. having a beer by the castle and sea.. and eating gyros until I had to hike to the airport. The flights to Athens and then Tel Aviv were fine, but I ended up meeting up with my cousin Etan and his uncle Hayim at like 1:45 AM.

The next day Etan and I went with his cousin and his friend to a rediculously good humus place in Ranananananana. I think it beats the place I went to in Akko -- Humus Sa'id. We went back to his friend Avi's house, smoked some hookah and hung out with his dog before going to Etan's new apartment in Tel Aviv. He's planning on moving there in the next couple of days so we'll be on a mission to find furniture and bleach to make it liveable and get rid of the smell. It is a very nice place though.. right in the middle of everything in Tel Aviv. We met Etan's other cousin after we came back who has 6 kids all younger than 12 running around the house like maniacs.

Today Etan had to work so I slept late and then went to Avi's house in the afternoon with Etan's cousin Yaron. They've been trying to help me with my Hebrew since that's all everyone is speaking and I really need to catch up. It's been fun though. I can understand most of the topics of their conversations, not necessarily their opinions, but it's working fine. Then we went to a park and played futbol (soccer) for a couple hours. It's been busy and crazy.. but that's Israel. It's definitely a lot of fun.

About the war in Gaza right now.... haha..
It's all over the news and the adults are talking about it. But it's not affecting daily life at all. Even though its not too far from here (since Israel is the size of New Jersey.. it's probably the distance from Trenton to NYC) it seems very far away. Interesting time to be here though.. that's for sure.

Anyway.. life is good. Until next time.

Coming to the End

Everything is getting so jumbled together lately. Island after island, town after town. It's all beautiful and all British tourists. We are back in Lakka on the Island Paxos, which is still one of my favorite spots so far. We spent the past couple of days doing long sails/motors northward to get back to Corfu by tomorrow. The long stretches of sea have given me time to just chill, relax, listen to music, and really enjoy Greece without thinking about anything else.

We spent most of today on the beach in Lakka. Usually when you think of European beaches, you expect topless girls, which were plentiful here.... however.... my preconceptions of beautiful, exotic, European girls frolicking along the beach with long hair blowing in the wind was violently shattered as I saw the truth of European topless sunbathing.... 50 year old fat and flabby British women scattered along the rocky shores like beached whales shriveling in the sun.

Although disappointing, it didn't ruin a great day at the beach.

Another aspect of Greek life we've noticed is that there is a very precise formula involved with staffing a Greek taverna or restaurant. They are all family owned, so the parents run it while their sons and daughters are waiters, cooks, and dish washers. The attractive daughter is always the hostess or server, and the hideous one is ALWAYS washing dishes. We've had a great time finding the ugly one in every restaurant we go to. We even got pictures with some!

After two weeks, our boat is starting to seem pretty small, and tomorrow we will be moving back to hotels for a couple nights. Very exciting. I CANNOT wait for a bed and a shower!

Still having a lot of fun. Until next time ---

More Greece

So after Lakka, we went down to Gaios. We did the usual stuff in the town, get dinner, walk around. The next day, though, we rented some vespa motorcycle things and drove all over the island of Paxos. It was definitely a change of pace from seeing Greece from the water. It was a perfect day to be on the Road, and Paxos is one of the most beautiful places on Earth. Driving along the cliffs of the coast during sunset brought me back my road trip last summer, driving up the Pacific Coast Highway through Big Sur. Definitely a few moments of Zen. We spent some time on the beach and had dinner in town that night.

We left the next day for a long trip to Lefkas, which is a peninsula off of the main land that has a canal separating it, so it's kindof an island. The next night we went down through some of the islands in the inland sea there. Eventually, we ended up in an amazing town called Kioni, on the Island of Ithaka. It's one of the least touristy spots we've seen so far -- a beautiful seaside village with a couple of beaches.. really nice. One of my only complaints about the Ionian isands here is that it's all very touristy. It doesn't seem foreign. Although the landscape is definitely beautiful and different, the people all speak English, and there are more tourists than locals. It's still great though.

We did some more Island hopping, and we are now on an Island called Kefalonia, the biggest in the Ionian. I'll update more when I can.

Corfu to Paxos

As we drove down to the town where our sailboat was waiting, the rain clouds rolled in. We loaded our luggage onto the boat, which seemed pretty nice, but looked small for fifteen days with five people. Since the weather was pretty crummy, the adults decided we should just stay in port there, which was a bummer because I really felt like getting out to see more. Luckily, we did end up sailing out to a small town on the main land, called Mourtos. We got there at night, and the full moon guided us into port. The town was pretty cool, lots of English tourists, but the restaurant we went too was off the main strip, and most of the people eating were Greek (it was also around midnight when we got there.. the Greeks eat late). So far, all the food we've eaten had been great. Lots of basic, natural flavors without much spice, but if you can appreciate that, then its really wonderful. However, there's always lots of lemon and olive oil available if you want more flavor (which I usually do).

The next day the sun was shining bright and we had a great sail over to Paxos, a lush and very beautiful, small island south of Corfu. We had planned on pulling into a small bay to stop for lunch and then moving on afterwards, but when we saw the bay, we decided to stay all day and the rest of the night. The color of the water is bright, Caribbean blue-green. The town, Lakka, is full of brightly painted houses and great tavernas. The weather sucked today, lots of rain, but we still got to hike around the hills surrounding the bay, which was really great. Lots of amazing views (and good pictures). Since the weather is bad, we're staying again tonight, and we'll head down to Gaios tomorrow. I don't know where there will be another computer again, but I'll try to update when I can.

Even though I'm surrounded by paradise, I can't help thinking about what's going on at home. I miss everybody and I can't wait to see you all.. only like another month?? Somebody give me an update! One of these days we all need to rent a villa in the Islands here for like a week.

Until next time!

More Athens

I met up with my parents at the hotel, right in the middle of the Plaka, with a great view of the Acropolis. We went up to see the Parthenon and everything, which was pretty great. That's definitely one of those places you hear about so much that it doesn't seem real even when you are there.. kind of like the Grand Canyon. Too powerful to really comprehend. We explored the Plaka for the rest of the day and ate a few times at random cafes all around the area with my dad's friend Athos and his wife. I picked up a Greek phrase book and have been spending a lot of time trying to figure out this crazy language.. but it's not an easy one.

The next day we went to the antiquities museum, which has some of the most amazing, ancient Greek sculptures and artwork imaginable. We explored more of Athens, and we went down to Pareius to look for my dad's old sailboat. (We didn't find it.) I met up with that girl from Newcastle again and didn't end up going to sleep until about 3am..

We got up at 6 to go to the airport. We flew to Corfu (Kerkyra) to start the rest of our trip. Everyone I talked to before the trip said Athens was a pretty miserable city, with garbage everywhere, and nothing going for it except for the Acropolis and Parthenon. Being there, however, it seemed much different. The Plaka is a great place with that definite old European city feel with narrow streets and sidewalk cafes, and it has the Mediterranean feel with all the colorful stucco buildings. We didn't see much outside the Plaka, but what we did see seemed okay to me. I think Athens was a good place.

Corfu, on the other hand, is amazing. It's one of the bigger Ionian islands right next to the Greece/Albania border. Like so many other places I've been on this trip, it has an "old city", which is full of charming streets and buildings. It's like the Plaka, but more laid back, more islandy, and much more beautiful. We spent all of today exploring the fort and the city. I got some great pictures, which I'll post as soon as I get back.

My Greek isn't progressing too much, but I think I have reading down pretty well. I can count to 10, say please and thank you, ask for water (tap or mineral), ask for beer, and say a couple more random words like "metro station". It's interesting to see how Greek roots influence some English words, like "micros" for small and "gyneca" for woman. I definitely won't be able to have a conversation by the time I get back to Israel (I'm still thinking in Hebrew).

Athens.. Night 1

So I don't think I was completely prepared for Athens... but first I'll update what I did before I got here.

After the internet cafe, Jen, Sage, and I walked around the shops and got dinner and a free desert, and I ordered my first liter of beer haha. While we were sitting at dinner, a huge explosion went off about 50 meters from where we were sitting.. just around the corner. Everyone freaked out and craned their heads to look. Our waitress's heart stopped for a second I think. But then like nothing had happened, everyone went back to business as usual. (We were still totally confused.) Within 5 minutes, a police officer let the crowd continue down the street, and we realized it had just been another one of those unattended bags that cops often use robots to cover and blow up all around Jerusalem. I guess you can't be too careful here.

We ran back to out hotel and made it to the bus station JUST in time to catch one of the last busses to Modi'in to stay with Sage's friend from camp. In the morning, we explored Tel Aviv a little more, visiting Shuk Carmel (the big market) and then Old Jafo, which is an ancient port city at the southern end of Tel Aviv. Very beautiful. We had lunch in a really nice white washed restaurant sitting up on the top of the wall overlooking the sea and the main city courtyard, with a nice Mediterranean breeze blowing through the window (which they forced us to close... just because.. gotta love Israel). I imagined Greece would be a lot like this, and it made me pretty excited. We said goodbye to Jen, and Sage and I explored Jafo for a little while longer.

I left Sage and made my way to the airport, where Israeli security interrogated me to the fullest extent. When I got to the gate, I found out my flight had been delayed an hour, which sucked because it meant I probably wouldn't be able to go out much when I got to the hostel in Athens.

The flight was fine, but once I got to the airport I began to realize Greece was a pretty big contrast from Israel, and I needed some serious adjusting. First of all, the customs signs were all in Greek, and even though the words were all the same, apparently they meant different things. Some lines were for Greeks, some for Europeans, some for diplomats, and some for everyone else (me). It was purely guess and check.

I also realized that I didn't know how to get to my hostel. My printout had the street address and the number of a bus line. This could help, or it could mean nothing, depending on who I could find to ask. (I also didn't have a phone, or money, so I couldn't call the hostel to ask them.) Luckily, I found a map of the bus line, and it did take me to Syntagma Square, where I remembered my hostel was near. I took the map with me, and went to the ATM to get some euros. My pockets were FULL of Israeli shekels (they feel the need to make most denominations coins instead of bills, making for a HEAVY wallet... once again... very Israeli). The ATM machine rejected my card. I hadn't told the company I was going to Greece, so they blocked my account. Shit! Once again, I didn't have money, so I couldn't use a pay phone to call the company to get it reactivated. I ended up converting some shekels, and I got on a bus headed for Syntagma Square.

Then began my language crisis... I was still thinking in Hebrew phrases and I was used to reading all the signs in Hebrew. But here, everything is in Greek. When I saw signs with a foreign alphabet from English, I expected it to be Hebrew, so I would try to read it, but couldn't. The people behind me on the bus were Israeli, and they were pretty lost. They asked me if I spoke English and something about Syntagma, but I had no idea what they were talking about, so I answered them in Hebrew, and they were VERY grateful. Using the map I got at the airport, I helped them figure out where to go. Then the guy sitting next to me was from China, and also needed directions, so between broken Chinese mixed with English, I helped him find where he needed to go.

At this point, between Hebrew, Chinese, and trying to remember how to read Greek so I could figure out which stop I needed to get off at, I think I forgot English for a couple minutes. My brain shut down haha. I did get off at the right stop though, and I made it to my hostel in the Plaka at about 11:30. It's a really nice place in the middle of the ancient old city district with worn down, polished cobble stones streets and cafes everywhere.

This morning I met a girl from Newcastle at breakfast, and we chatted for a while, but now I am headed out to explore a little more and fine my parents hotel where they will be later on today.

And so the adventure continues..

Gia hara!

The Rest of the Rest of Part 2

Okay.. so we went to Nadav's house in Ra'anana. The neighborhood they live in is beautiful and looks exactly like a Southern California suburb. When we got to the house, Gal, Nadav, Jen, Sage, Seth, and I hung out on the patio in their back yard and attempted to fill them in on our experiences up to that point, but we kept getting sidetracked and never actually finished the story. They are both finishing their high school finals right now and will be going into the army in about 5 months. Gal is going into intelligence and Nadav is trying to get into a special forces unit, both of which are very competitive.

The girls settled in at Nadav's house, and Gal brought Seth and I back to his apartment where we would be staying. We got a taxi into Tel Aviv and walked down the small, lively streets. It was a lot like the Village, except a lot hotter and more confusing. We made our way down to the tayelet (promenade on the beach) to meet up with Jason, and we spent the evening at a bar on the sand next to the Mediterranean. On the way back (we were all passed out in the cab) there was a checkpoint where the police were searching every car for a terrorist that they knew would be passing through, and it took about an hour to get through the search. It was pretty invasive; I can't imagine living like that in the US, but it seemed completely normal for Israel. The girls went to Nadav's and we went back to Gal's. Seth passed out and Gal and I hung out on the roof philosophizing about life.

We woke up really late the next morning and headed to the beach in Herzliya, where we spent most of the afternoon. We had sushi in the mall by the marina and then went back to get ready to go to Tel Aviv for the night again. We had dinner in Nadav's dad's restaurant, which is the Tel Aviv branch of Sushi Samba in New York. Great food.. and 50% off! We walked around the city and ended up in a couple bars before heading back home. One of Gal's friends came over and they, Seth, and I sat out on the roof again, overlooking Tel Aviv and the countryside. It's a pretty great spot.

We said our goodbyes in the morning and caught a train to Be'er Sheva, where we caught a bus to Eilat. The bus ride to Eilat was one of the worst traveling experiences I've ever had. It's a 3 hour ride at least, through the desert (110 degrees that day), and to top it all off, it was completely full and we had to stand/sit/curl up in the aisle for the entire trip. After a night without sleep, it was torture.

We settled into our hostel and went to the promenade to get some dinner and meet up with Inbal (a girl that stayed in Sage's room for 6 months during a program) and her boyfriend Segi.

Back at the hostel, Seth and I acquired two new room mates. Even though it was a youth hostel, they were easily 45-50. Over the next couple nights, they made our hostel experience pretty unbearable. They were both huge and smelled horrible. One couldn't sleep without his radio playing loud Israeli music, and the other refused to wear clothes and was unnaturally flatulent. One of them ate sunflower seeds one night, and must have finished off 3 bags or so because in the morning there was a pile of shells oll over the table and floor next to his bed. The seeds got on everything over the course of our stay. I have no idea how, but one of them managed to cover the bathroom floor with mud. It was pretty disgusting.

We went to the beach next to the tayelet the next day and went out again at night. It was much sleazier than I expected it to be. They have guido equivalents here called the "arzim", who seemed to own Eilat. It was way too Seaside-like for me. I'm not a big fan of downtown Eilat.

The next day we went to a much nicer beach down by the Egyptian border, where we lounged on Club Med chairs and watched the windsurfers on the Red Sea. Merav and her boyfriend Yoni met us there and Yoni and I went scuba diving. While we did that, the girls when "snuba" diving (you are attached to a hose that runs to the surface rather than having a tank.. you don't need to be certified), and Seth went snorkeling. The dive was great. The reef was beautiful and the visibility was perfect. We went through caves and then went down to the Syrian-African Rift underwater cliff, which was very cool.

Yesterday, we took a bus up to Jerusalem and spent the evening out at Ben Yehuda street. We stayed at the Hebrew Union College hostel, which was MUCH nicer than our last hostel experience. Seth left at like 5 o'clock this morning, and the girls and I headed into the old city today to visit the Dome of the Rock and the Temple Mount. We wandered through the Christian Quarter and Arab markets. We ended up at the Western Wall and waited there for Jason to meet up with us before we went up to the Dome of the Rock.

Gal had told us, when we were staying with him, that two huge events were taking place in Israel this summer. One was that famous musicians were finally starting to come back.. the Intifada scared most of them away for the past 5 years, but now groups like the Black Eyed Peas, 50 Cent, and others were coming to tour again.. very exciting for the Israelis. The second event was the first ever professional sumo wrestling tour was coming to Israel. I didn't really think anything of it until today while we were at the Western Wall, where I ran into the sumo wrestlers. There were about 10 of them decked out in kimonos, surrounded by press, security, and Japanese tourists, visiting the wall as part of their trip to Israel. None of them could figure our how to put on the mandatory yarmulkes at the entrance to the wall. It was definitely a sight to see.

Jason eventually showed up and we got lunch, but when we went to see the Temple Mount and Dome of the Rock, we found out they had closed just 15 minutes before. It was really too bad, but it leaves us a reason to come back.

After the Old City, Jen, Sage, and I walked over to Ben Yehuda street (where I am at an internet cafe typing this right now). I met a girl at the computer next to me who's traveling around Israel and Europe for the next couple weeks. It turns out that she's on the same flight as me to Greece tomorrow! It really is a small world.

To be continued...

The Rest of Part 2

In the morning, we tried again to make reservations for the Bahai'i gardens, but it was too late and all the tours were full. Along with the kid from Bristol, we decided to try our luck and see if we could squeeze onto a tour anyway, but we missed the bus and ran out of time. There was another tour leaving from the top an hour later, but it was in Hebrew, and it was full too, but we tried anyway. We tried to convince the guards to let us on, but they refused. While we were arguing with them, they got a phone call saying the group that was supposed to come in an hour had cancelled, so we took their spots.

The gardens were incredible. Definitely one of the most beautiful places I've been in the world. Some time in middle school I found a really nice picture of the gardens online that I used as my computer's desktop for a while. As soon as I found out it was in Israel, I added it to my list of places I need to go before I die, and I was not disappointed.

We got on a train and headed up to Herzliya to meet up with Gal and Nadav, our Israeli friends that we met when they came to do a program in New Jersey. But of course the train we took didn't stop in Herzliya even though it was supposed to. (Very Israeli.) We got off in Tel Aviv and then took the next train back to Herzliya. Nadav's mom picked us up and brought us back to their house in Ra'anana.

(Out of time.. I'll finish later)

Part 2 - Day 2

We woke up pretty late to catch up on all the sleep we missed the night before. After stalling around the house for most of the morning, Sage, Jen, Seth, Jason, and I hopped on a bus to Haifa. By pure luck, some Israeli guy got us on the right bus and to the exact stop we needed for our hostel. It would have taken a LOT longer if he hadn't showed up. We settled into our rooms and got suggestions from the front dest for what to do with our day. We took the subway up the mountain and walked down around the Bahai'i gardens (we couldn't go in because we happened to come on 1 out of their 4 holy days of the year... which really sucked). After walking down the mountain, we explored the German colony and found a great Persian restaurant for dinner. We got about 6 huge plates of food for the five of us, and it only cost about 10 bucks each. It was the best we'd eaten since we left the states... yet another benefit to traveling without the group!

After dinner, we met up with my friend Merav and her boyfriend, who I knew from high school, but who lives near Haifa. We planned to take a walk down the promenade by the beach before going out for the night, and Merav's boyfriend was going to drive us down there. After we dropped off the girls, he and I went back to the German colony to pick up Jason and Seth. Right in the middle of the road before we got back to pick them up, his gears ground down and the clutch burned out. I had to push his car into a parking lot because he was blocking traffic and the cops were freaking out at us (and he didn't have insurance). So the girls took a taxi back and the guys walked down to the parking lot, and we had our own party there.. Not what we had planned, but definitely a unique experience.

A tow truck picked them up and we went back to the hostel for the night. Our room mates were a bunch of Bahai'i kids from British Columbia, Canada and a Christian from Bristol, England. We swapped some stories and went to sleep.

My time is almost up on the hostel computer here, so I'll add more another time.